The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-05-20
THE ART OF EMBALMING.
How Bodies Of the Dead Are Preserved for Fu
ture Generations.

ture Generations.
Said Rochester Morning Herald
reporter to prominent undertaken
recently: 81 suppose this warm
weather will causeyou to get Outyo
refrigerators?"
"Well, it would q few years ago, but
now you know we never use ice for pre-
serving q body except in a few cases
where the friends or relatives object
to our embalming it.
THAT Is more expensive, though, Is
it not?"
"Oh, no; the cost is about the same
and the trouble is much less. Now,
you see, in using ice we haYe a big box
to carry around, and where We have
three or four cases at the same time
we would be Obliged TO have several
coolers, but by the new way of pre-
serving here is all we have to carry"
and he laid his hand on what looked
like a sample case such as is Ordl-
narily carried by q liquor salesman.
On opening the case it bore a strik-
ing resemblance to a surgeons case,
except that on one side were three
quart bottles filled with milky look
ing fluids. The instruments consisted
of small knife, a lancet such as is
used by physicians in tapping" " and
syringe with great variety Of nOz-
zles. This" said the undertaken,
picking up the syringe, lis the princi-
pal thing used, and the nOzzles are
used in lust as many ways as there
.,lo 10
when W. do not intend to do q regular
Job of embalming, but simply to pre-
serve the body a day or two, and it
is used for injecting the fluid into the
stomach. This is for hypodermic
injection, this for a vein, this for an
artery, and this is used for what we
call initiating That is, if the person
has been sick long time and is very
thin in the face we insert this in the
face under the ear and force q certain
fluid into the face to give it q round
appearance.
"Then I understand that it is not
necessary to fill the veins and arteries
in order to preserve a body for a few
days."
Not by any means. OF course it
depends very much on the condition
of the body when given into our hands,
but ordinarily we inject into the
stomach and intestines and into the
head through the nose and ears. In
a thorough job, where the body has
to be kept a number Of days in warm
weather, we fill the arteries, and in
case OF the sudden death ola vigorous
person we usually have to draw out
the blood first. This we are obliged
to do while the body is warm, but we
do not inject the embalmlng fluid till
the animal warmth has left the
body"
"How long will body retain it's
natural appearance that has been
thoroughly treated?"
II can hardly say. All the way
from one year to ten or even more,
and l expect if l embalnled O. body
just to see how long | could keep it.,
it would keep till it was destroyed by
outside agencies. l have moved
bodies that have been buried three or
four years that were perfect, only
they we're covered with mold"
How long has the custom of pre-
serving bodies in this manner been
common among undertakers?"
cts only been in general use about
five or six years, although the art of
preserving bodies with a solution of
sulphate of alumina was discovered
by Gaunal about 1884. Substitutes
for alumina are now used, as sulphate
of zinc, bismuth and salts of various
kinds. 1t is a great art and one that
undertakers could hardly get along
without now that they have begun
practicing it. Our method is, to be
sure, vastly different from that of the
ancients, for their idea was to pre-
serve the body forever, and to do
that all the internal organs had to be
removed and the flesh was literally
dried up, whereas the art Of embalm-
ing as practicted to-day is simply to
preserve the body in natural con.
dition for limited time"